Cumberland finishing regular season playing best soccer

CUMBERLAND — The Cumberland girls soccer team has a chance to win its first state title – Division I– in program history, but coach John Hoxsie knows to do that the Clippers will have to maximize their offensive opportunities.

In the last three games the Clippers have created more chances and scored more goals and a lot of that improvement has to do with the play of junior attacking midfielder Marina Zuhr, an exchange student from Spain.

“Our midfield has done a good job all year, but she just brings an element that we don’t have – the ability to attack with the ball at full speed,” Hoxsie said. “Her vision is unbelievable. She brings a lot. She played the first couple of games – not in that central role, but as an outside midfielder. She struggled a little bit, but that was expected because she didn’t know anything about us. Going down to JV was good for her because she built her confidence.”

Zuhr didn’t produce a point in Saturday afternoon’s 3-0 Division I victory over playoff-chasing Portsmouth, but her hard work and creativity in the midfield opened up opportunities for strikers Riley Trudeau and Mackenzie Lavallee. Senior Olivia Sarmento scored the game-winning goal in the first half, while Lavallee and Trudeau added second-half goals in the home win.

Senior captain Abby Free said the team has spent the season trying to make Zuhr comfortable on and off the field.

“We tried to make her comfortable with us and she’s done a great job overcoming the language barrier,” Free said. “She just had to get used to what we were doing. She’s made us so much better because she can get the ball, turn and attack. No one has the foot skills she has, so defenders have a difficult time dealing with her touches.”

Cumberland (11-2-1 Division I) travels to Prout Tuesday afternoon to finish the season. If the Clippers down the Crusaders they can finish no worse than the No. 4 seed, but if La Salle beats North Kingstown and takes at least a point away from South Kingstown then the Clippers will be the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.

That’s a big improvement for a team that won just five games last season and was dumped out of the playoffs in the first round by Barrington.

“We played very well in the second half and scoring a couple of goals was good to see,” Hoxsie said. “We had a lot of chances and we’d love to finish more of those chances, or at least put a few more on frame. There’s always something to work on. We look pretty good right now, but we know there’s one more game left and the season starts all over again.”

Portsmouth (2-7-5 Division I) came into the game having earned impressive victories over Coventry and Cranston West after failing to win its first 12 games. The Patriots, however, found out what many teams in Division I already know – it’s tough scoring on Free, Bella Luca and goalie Juliette Vemmer.

Cumberland has now posted nine shutouts and three in its last four games.

The Clippers scored the only goal they would need on Sarmento’s effort in the 26th minute. The Clippers doubled their lead in the second half when Lavallee ran on to a aimless long ball and ripped a shot past Portsmouth goalie Gabrielle Schneck. Trudeau finished the scoring when she ran to the near post and redirected a corner kick.

“I feel like we’re playing really well, but we need to keep it going,” Free said. “We tend to play down to teams, which is our big thing we struggle with. We didn’t do that today because they needed a point to get into the playoffs, so we knew they were going to be on their A-game so we brought it, too.”